Middle market private equity firm One Equity Partners (OEP) has completed the acquisition of USNR, the world’s most comprehensive supplier of equipment and technologies for the wood processing industry, and Wood Fiber Group, a manufacturer and supplier of sawmill consumables, parts, and services.
OEP subsequently merged the two businesses to a frontrunner for wood processing equipment and aftermarket parts & consumables, with projected 2021 revenues greater than USD500 million. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
“This investment in USNR and Wood Fiber Group is a perfect example of One Equity Partners’ ability to identify and execute transformational combinations,” said JB Cherry, Senior Managing Director, OEP. “Combining these two great companies that are headquartered seven miles apart with a long history of collaboration and complementary customer bases, is a natural next step to drive value for the businesses and their customers.”
“The combined company’s scale, technical capacity and global reach provide an ideal platform to benefit from long-term global trends in wood demand and process automation,” Cherry adds. “In addition, bringing the two top management teams in the industry together makes the company the acquirer of choice as consolidation of the highly fragmented industry continues and worldwide competition intensifies. We look forward to a productive collaboration with the teams on finding new avenues for growth and building on the companies’ past success.”
Headquartered in Woodland, Washington, USNR provides comprehensive automation and technology system integration for mills—from log yards all the way through finishing equipment. The company boasts the largest global installed base of wood processing equipment, serving more than 1,800 customers operating 2,500 million sites in 56 countries around the world.
Ridgefield, Wash.-based Wood Fiber Products acts as a “one-stop shop” provider of leading timber mill products under brands including Simonds International, Burton Saw & Supply, BGR Saws, Cut Technologies, Global Tooling, US Blades, Armstrong Manufacturing, and Wright Machine Tool. The company has 12 facilities across all the major North American wood processing regions.
“We at USNR are so excited to come together with One Equity Partners and our great friends at Wood Fiber Products,” says Dale Brown, CEO of USNR. “OEP’s ambitious vision to combine these two enterprises and its established track record of successful investments in industrial companies immediately made the firm a preferred partner as we evaluated pathways to continued growth.”
“We’re confident this merger will benefit customers of both USNR and Wood Fiber Group and enable us to collectively reach our full potential when it comes to service and innovation as we continue meeting the strong demand for lumber processing technology and mission-critical aftermarket parts and supplies,” adds Craig Tompkins, CEO of Wood Fiber Group.
